On Wednesday night, President Biden addressed the nation<\/a> for the last time from the Oval Office, and for the first time since announcing that he was withdrawing from the election last July. Going into the speech, most expected Biden\u2019s farewell address to focus on his accomplishments<\/a> over more than five decades in government and maintain a positive tone. However, while such an account was part of his address, the most memorable elements trended toward the challenging and ominous. Among his points of emphasis were:<\/p>\n Ultimately, we are each free to evaluate for ourselves the degree to which Biden\u2019s assessment of the last four years\u2014as well as what awaits us in the years to come\u2014mirrors reality. If the immediate reactions to the speech are any indication, that assessment is likely to remain both partisan <\/a>and divisive<\/a>. But the president\u2019s encouragement to not allow such divisions to define our views of what it means to be American was well-said and important for each of us to remember.\u00a0<\/p>\n After all, one truth that should be beyond dispute is that we are blessed to live in a country where every four years, we\u2019re offered the chance to peacefully change the direction of the nation. And a quick look at what\u2019s going on in Venezuela demonstrates just how lucky we are.\u00a0<\/p>\n Roughly a week after President Biden announced that he was no longer running for a second term, Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro declared that he had won a third. The problem is that most people, both within Venezuelan borders and beyond, are convinced he didn\u2019t<\/a>. Rather, tallies at the ballot box level\u2014Maduro has not allowed the official results to be made public\u2014show \u201ca landslide win\u201d for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognized as president-elect by the United States, most of Europe, and the rest of the Western world.\u00a0<\/p>\n The US has even offered a $25 million reward<\/a> for information leading to Maduro\u2019s arrest. The Venezuelan president was charged with narco-terrorism in 2020 for \u201cflooding the US with cocaine and using drugs as a weapon to undermine the health of Americans.\u201d Yet it is he who remains in power while Gonzalez attempts to build enough support to take control of the office he won last summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Gonzalez remains publicly confident that he will eventually be able to return and lead Venezuela, Maduro enjoys the support of China, Russia, and Iran, as well as geographically closer allies like Cuba <\/a>and Nicaragua. The old clich\u00e9 that you can measure a man by his friends seems apt in this instance, and the Venezuelan people are likely to continue suffering under his leadership\u2014and the sanctions placed on their nation\u2014as a result.<\/p>\n A common thread that runs through both the President\u2019s farewell address and the controversy in Venezuela is the call to perseverance and hope in the midst of struggle and reasons for doubt. Apostle Paul speaks to enduring through difficult times in a way that is vital for us to understand today.<\/p>\n In Romans 5, the apostle states, \u201cWe rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God\u2019s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us\u201d (Romans 5:3\u20135).\u00a0<\/p>\n Unfortunately, having hope matters little unless it is placed in the right person, and history demonstrates that any gains that come from placing our hope in other fallen humans will prove fleeting at best. That\u2019s why what America needs most is not a greater hope or belief in the ideals it represents\u2014as the president and others have prescribed\u2014but in the God who largely inspired those ideals at our nation\u2019s founding.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Christians, one of the best ways to help our country and culture is to show people the power of placing our hope in God rather than presidents, governments, or any other facet of our nation\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n As President-elect Trump prepares for his inauguration on Monday, many are optimistic about what his second term will bring. There are perhaps just as many who are concerned. But the moment he either becomes our source of hope or the reason why we lose hope altogether, we\u2019ve lost sight of the perspective God calls us to keep.\u00a0<\/p>\n So long as our hope is in the Lord, we will not be put to shame. Trials will come and there will be days when it\u2019s difficult to see God\u2019s hand at work in the world around us. But that\u2019s where the endurance and character of which Paul also wrote become so important.\u00a0<\/p>\n What sets biblical hope apart from the best our culture has to offer is the knowledge that the source of that hope is not simply a better or more powerful version of ourselves. Rather, it is a being who is fundamentally perfect in love, knowledge, ability, and every other characteristic that matters. Yet the desire to find that perfection instead in fellow fallen creatures seems endemic to human nature.<\/p>\n This side of heaven, placing our hope in Jesus rather than in other people will always be a struggle. That\u2019s why we have to make a conscious effort every day to surrender that hope back to the Lord and rely on the Holy Spirit to help us keep it there.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where is your source of hope today?<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re looking to politics for fulfillment, you\u2019ll always be disappointed, foolishly uncompromising and enraged. It\u2019ll never be enough even when your side wins. Use politics as a tool to pursue justice and moral order. It\u2019s not the place to find identity or fulfillment.\u201d \u2014Justin Giboney<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Wednesday night, President Biden addressed the nation for the last time from the Oval Office, and for the first time since announcing that he was withdrawing from the election last July. Going into the speech, most expected Biden’s farewell…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4396,"featured_media":6860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
When elections don\u2019t matter<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u201cHope does not put us to shame\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Where is your source of hope?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The latest from the Denison Forum:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Quote of the day:<\/strong><\/h2>\n